"Rural areas across Europe have been hugely impacted by the pandemic and many of the existing challenges in rural communities have been magnified by the ongoing crisis. It's important that we gather evidence on the best practices and challenges in rural areas during the COVID-19 crisis, including those that are linked to measures introduced by the EU and learn from these experiences, so that we can draw conclusions and provide recommendations for the way forward, towards recovery." Joke Schauvliege, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) Rapporteur on the opinion ‘Experiences and lessons learned by regions and cities during the coronavirus crisis’ made these remarks during an event co-organised by the CoR's NAT commission and the RUMRA and Smart villages intergroup. Stakeholders discussed the importance of the European rural agenda in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
Schauvliege who is Member of the Flemish Parliament said that challenges faced by rural areas during the pandemic included access to healthcare and other services, lack of digital and other infrastructure and the ever-increasing pressures on public sector finances. She highlighted the pandemic's drastic impacts on the tourism and agriculture sectors which have been strongly felt by many rural areas.
Schauvliege said that the outlook opinion gives the opportunity to provide a reality check on the ground of the EU measures to fight the pandemic, to gather evidence and to improve EU policies based on the experiences of the local and regional level. "Local and regional authorities, including in rural areas, have been at the forefront in the response to the crisis, taking measures to protect the health of their citizens and to support businesses and livelihoods, development and recovery in their areas, in cooperation with local actors and communities on the ground."
The rapporteur remarked that apart from discussions with stakeholders, the CoR launched a study on how local and regional authorities in rural areas have made use of the more flexible rules of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiatives to address the challenges caused by COVID-19 in their territories.
Speaking on the challenges for rural development in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis Schauvliege said "Crises can bring opportunities, if we learn from our experiences and put in place a forward-looking EU rural agenda, linked to the overarching EU policies such as the green and digital transitions, economic development and COVID-19 recovery. We must also ensure that the new funding instruments – CAP, cohesion policy, the Recovery and Resilience Facility - at EU and national levels, address the needs of our diverse rural and remote communities and support them in their efforts towards sustainable recovery in the long term." In her concluding remarks Schauvliege said that a thorough evaluation will make rural areas wiser and stronger for the future.
